服装品牌的分销渠道外文文献.docx

服装品牌的分销渠道外文文献.docx

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服装品牌的分销渠道外文文献

文献出处：

DicksonMA.Supplier-retailerrelationshipsinChina'sdistributionchannelforforeignbrandapparel[J].JournalofFashionMarketingandManagement:

AnInternationalJournal,2014,8

（2）:

201-220.

Supplier-retailerrelationshipsinChina'sdistributionchannel

forforeignbrandapparel

Dickson,MarshaA

Abstract:

ThisstudyinvestigatedhowChineseretailersperceivetheirforeign brand apparelsuppliersandexploredtheuseofpowertheoryforexplainingtheserelationships.Asurveyof150apparelretailersoperatinginBeijing,Chinaprovideddataforthestudy.Referentpowerpositivelyinfluencedretailers'attitudestowardandnon-economicsatisfactionwiththeirsuppliers.Greaterreferentpoweralsoreduced channel conflictandenhancedeconomicsatisfactionwithbusinessperformance.TheimportanceofthissourceofpowerseemstobelinkedwiththeconceptofguanxiinChina,whererespectfulrelationshipsarevalued.Coercivethreatstowithholdnecessarymerchandise,service,orcontractsincreased channel conflict.Surprisingly,greaterchannel conflictwasassociatedwithincreasedeconomicsatisfactionwithbusinessperformance.Thisrelationshipiscontemplatedfromaculturalperspectiveandrecommendationsaremadetoforeign brand apparelmanufacturerswishingtoaccessChina'sretailmarket. 

KeywordsChina,Distributionchannels,Retailers,Suppliers

China'sapparelmarkethasbecomeincreasinglyattractivetoforeignmanufacturersduetothegrowingnumberofconsumersofhighqualityforeignbrandapparel（LinandChen,1998;Peng,2002;Zhao,2003）.ThepotentialofthismarketisevengreaterconsideringthatthePeople'sRepublicofChina（China）hasjoinedtheWorldTradeOrganization（WTO）;thisshouldassurethatforeignaccesstotheseconsumerswillincrease（HainanNewsNet,2003）.Initially,mostforeignapparelmanufacturerswillneedtoutilizeChina'sexistingdistributionchannelstoaccessthismarket.ThestructureofdistributionchannelsinChina,particularlythechannelsforforeignbrandapparelproducts,isdifferentfromthoseinfreemarketsliketheUSAandotherdevelopedcountries（McClainandCheng,1995;SternquistandZhou,1995;Zhangetal.,2002）.Scholarsarguethatresearchonretaildistributionchannelsinlessdevelopedcountries（LDCs）,suchasChina,isimperativeifwesternscholarsandmarketersaretounderstandthepromisingLDCmarketsandpromoteexportstothemarkets（Goldman,1981;Samiee,1993）.Thus,thepurposeofthisstudywastoexaminetheretaildistributionchannelsforforeignbrandapparelinChina.Specifically,weinvestigatedhowChineseretailersperceivetheirforeignbrandapparelsuppliersandexploredtheuseofpowertheoryforexplainingtheserelationships.Powertheoryarguesthatsomechannelparticipantshavepoweroverothers（El-AnsaryandStern,1972;HuntandNevin,1974）.Knowledgeaboutthesourcesfromwhichpowerarises,howpowerisperceived,anditsimpactonbusinessrelationshipshaveimplicationsforforeignbusinessesthatwishtotaptheretailmarketinChina.

PoliticalandculturalinfluencesondistributionchannelsinChina

Chineseretailersoperateinanenvironmentdefinedbyanumberofmacrofactors,includingpoliticalandculturalfactors,affectingtheretailersandtheirchannelmembers（Kwanetal.,2003）.AnexampleoftheinfluenceofpoliticalfactorsistherestrictivegovernmentregulationsrelatedtoimportingconsumergoodsintoChina.TheChinesegovernmentassignsforeigntradelicensestoalimitednumberoforganizationsandenterprises;onlythoseentitiesthathavebeenassignedlicensescanengageinforeigntrade（MinistryofForeignTradeandEconomicCooperation,PRC,2003;USDeptofCommerce,1999）.BeforeApril1999,averylimitednumberofstate-ownedandtownshipenterprisesweregrantedtherightstoconductdirectexportandimportbusiness（HongKongTradeDevelopmentCouncil,1999）.AfterApril1999,moreenterpriseshavebeenauthorizedforexportingandimportingbutstillonlyasmallnumberofprivateindustrialenterprises,massmerchandiseretailenterprises,andscientificandresearchinstitutionshavebeengrantedforeigntradeautonomy（ChinaCentralTelevision,1999;HongKongTradeDevelopmentCouncil,1999）.ArecentinterviewbythesecondauthorwithagovernmentalofficialworkingattheBeijingBureauofIndustryandCommerceAdministrationrevealedthataconsiderablenumberofBeijingretailerswhowanttosellimportedapparelproductscannotdirectlyengageinforeigntrade.ConsequentlymostChineseapparelretailersmustrelyonforeigntradeoperatorstoactastheirexport/importagentstoobtainimportedapparel（Peng,2002;Zhangetal.,2002）.

ChineseretailerscanobtainforeignbrandnameproductsthroughasecondchannelthatdistributesproductsthatweremanufacturedinChina（LinandChen,1998;Zhangetal.,2002）.Forforeignapparelmanufacturersproducingtheirproductsinjoint-ventureenterprisesinChina（definedascollaborativeapparel）,ChineselawallowsaportionoftheirproductstobesoldwithinChina.However,collaborativeapparelproductsmustgothroughthelocaldistributionchannelinordertoreachtheretailfloor.Similartothesituationwithimports,withonlyafewexceptions,thislocaldistributionchannelhasbeenclosedtoforeigninvestors.Therefore,forChineseretailerswishingtooffereitherimportedorcollaborativeapparelwithforeignbrandnames,theytypicallymustaccesstheseproductsindirectlythroughforeigntradeoperators（suppliers）（Zhangetal.,2002）.

Aswellasmaintainingcontroloverimportingandexporting,theChinesegovernmentalsocontrolsthedistributionchannelsforconsumergoodsPeptofCommerce,1999;HongKongTradeDevelopmentCouncil,1999）.MostChinese-Foreignjoint-ventureenterprisesareprohibitedfromengagingindistributionactivitiessuchaswholesaling（TheWorldJournal,1999a）[1].Whollyforeign-investeddistributionandwholesalingbusinessesareallowedonlyinthefourcitiesofBeijing,Shanghai,Tianjin,andChongqing,whicharedirectlyadministeredbythecentralgovernment（TheWorldJournal,1999a,b）.Thus,formostforeignapparelmanufacturers,criticalaccesstoChina'sretailmarketwillbecontrolledbyaChineseagentwhoactsasthesupplierforChineseretailers.Foratleasttworeasons,itwouldbevaluabletounderstandtherelationshipsthesesuppliershavewithChineseretailers.First,mostforeignapparelmanufacturersarelikelytorelinquishsomecontrolovertheirbusinesstotheseagents.Itwouldbehelpfultoconsiderhowretailersperceivetheseagents.Second,astheChinesegovernmentfurtherrelaxesrestrictionsonforeigninvolvementinimportinganddistribution,foreignapparelmanufacturerswilleventuallybeallowedtoengagedirectlywithChineseretailers.Thesebusinesseswouldbenefitfromknowinghowretailersperceivedistribution-relatedactivitiesandbusinessstrategies,andhowpowerismaintainedwithintheserelationships.

BecausepowertheorywasdevelopedprimarilyintheUSA,theinfluenceofChina'suniqueculturalfactorsmustbeconsideredwhenexaminingrelationshipsamongforeignbrandapparelsuppliersandChineseretailers.Thestructureofadistributionchannelisinfluencedbyitssocialandculturalcontext（OlsenandGranzin,1990）.TwofactorsinfluencingChinesebehaviorareguanxiand"face"（KimandNam,1998）.GuanxireferstotheinformalnetworksandrelationshipsgoverningbusinessactivitythroughoutChina.Guanxirelationshipscontrastwiththemorelegal,contract-basedrelationshipsfoundinthewesternworld（Lovettetal.,1999）.Withguanxi,relationshipsarestrengthened"throughexchangesofrespectandaffection,aswellasmaterialobjectsorspecificfavors"（Lovettetal.,1999,p.232）.Lovettetal.（1999）provideexamplessupportingthecentralityofrelationshipsandtrusttobuyer-supplierrelationshipsinaguanxi-type.businesssystem.Guanxiprovidesassurancetobuyersthattheyarehighprioritytosuppliers,thatthesuppliershavetheneededabilitytosatisfythebuyers'needs,andthatsupplierswillnotcheatthem.Kwanetal.（2003）suggestthatforeignerswishingtobeinvolvedintheretailbusinessinChinashouldcultivategoodguanxiwithChinesebureaucratsbecauseitmayinfluencewhetherregulationsareinterpretedinamannerthatfavorstheforeignbusiness.

AsecondculturalfactorpotentiallyimpactingrelationshipswithinChina'sdistributionchannelsisthatofface.AmongAsians,facerefersto:

...therespectabilityand/ordeferencewhichapersoncanclaimforhimselffromothers,byvirtueoftherelativepositionheoccupiesinhissocialnetworkandthedegreetowhichheisjudgedtohavefunctionedadequatelyinthatpositionaswellasacceptablyinhisgeneralconduct（Ho,1976,p.883）.

KimandNam（1998）believethatconcernwithfacestemsfromAsia'scollectivistculture,whereharmoniousandinterdependentrelationshipsamonggroupsaredesired.Generally,Asianswishtoextendapositiveimageofthemselvestoothers.FaceislinkedwithsocialstatusandlosingfaceisthoughttobegreatlyconcerningtoChinesebecauseitbringsquestiontowhetheraperson'ssocialstatusislegitimate.KimandNam（1998）linkfacewithpowerinbusinesssettingsbyproposingthatmanagementishighlysensitivetoface-savingandhasresponsibilityformaintainingandcultivatingthesocialnetworksneededtocreatesuccessfulworkingrelationshipsamongpersons/groupswithdifferingsocialstatusandpower.Oneisexpectedtosavethefaceofanyonewithwhomonehasguanxirelationships,oranticipateretaliationfromthosewhosefacehasnotbeensaved（Luketal.,1999）.Althoughwedidn